Slashdot Mirror

if (window._content.document.location.href. indexOf('slashdot.org')!=-1) ...

This is a well documented bug and is apparantly fixed in the final version of Firefox. (Copy & Paste link - Bugzilla doesn't like Slashdot, either!) If you're still experiencing this problem, I suggest you look into optimized Moox builds, as he has implemented a fix that has been working great for me. Also, there is an extension that apparantly fixes the problem, as well.

There is a small Firefox extension called SlashFix, which takes care of this problem. It's a hack, but it works. :) Good enough till 1.1 comes out...

Just install the Slashfix extension until v1.1.

There is an extension called SlashFix.
http://www.hardgrok.org/blog/item/slashfix-firefox -extension.html

The Slashdot rendering issue is related to some sort of page rendering timing issue, so two computers can and do render it differently. I've got two computers at the same resolution, and the faster computer has the bug, while the slower version does not. Until it makes it into the code (1.1 probably), there's a Firefox extension to fix it.

SlashFix extension. A fine substitute until the real actual code fix makes it into Firefox (or until Slashdot uses valid HTML, like that would ever happen!).

I find the plugin by Fnkmaster (89084) quite nice.

It is found here.

After looking at that screenshot, it's sooo clear to me the value that the semantic web brings to us (mirrored here as their server appears to be flaking out a bit). If anything, this makes it crystal clear why the semantic web hasn't really taken off, other than in the much more limited form of RSS feeds.

A network of random connections of semantic concepts embodied as URIs is just not a friendly form of data for humans to manipulate directly, and I don't think it every will be. That's right, I don't believe this is really an issue that's solvable with slightly better tools. I think ultimately the management of and connection of ontologies is something that computers will have to learn to do themselves.

It's just too hard to expect normal human beings to describe knowledge in any way other than the way we are used to. The web is only as popular as it is because HTML is a simple, appearance-based way to markup documents (yes, I realize strictly speaking HTML isn't supposed to describe many aspects of appearance per se, but there's no denying that it comes from that root). We understand bold and italics (and even strong and em), but ask somebody to generate two concepts by constructing URIs for them and relating them in subject-predicate form and they are going to look at you and drool.

Even programmers aren't used to the idea of describing knowledge - it's one thing to tell a computer what to do, it's another thing to tell a computer how to know about something that you know.

Alright, I know I'm opening myself up to the flames here, so flame away. Anyway, I think the "semantic web" will need to wait for tools like Cyc et. al. to come along far enough to construct and relate their own ontologies out of English text, and until then all we will see is stuff like RSS or RDF files in Firefox extensions to describe deployment conditions (i.e. stuff that can be done with any arbitrary XML dialect that doesn't really qualify as the "semantic web" to me).

Can display mangled HTML (e.g., Slashdot pages) in a somewhat reasonable way (without having to type ^+ ^0 each time).

There's a Firefox extension to fix the screwy Slashdot HTML issue at

http://www.hardgrok.org/blog/item/slashfix-firefox -extension.html

As far as the other features you'd like to see in Firefox, check out other extensions that are available. So far, every time I've said, "Wow, I wish Firefox could do x," someone had already written an extension to do it.

SlashFix is a quick workaround to resolve this problem. Not as good as a real fix to the underlying reflow/threading issues, but it works today with 1.0PR (and ought to work just fine with 1.0, though I haven't been able to d/l 1.0 yet to test).

If you are a regular Slashdot surfer, you might want to check out my extension, SlashFix which fixes the very annoying Slashdot rendering errors in the Firefox 1.0 branch.

These errors are fixed in the Mozilla trunk source code, but for apparently sound reasons, the developers didn't want to check the fixes into the 1.0 branch, apparently because they caused problems with some other, unnamed web sites. SlashFix is a good interim solution so you don't feel compelled to start up IE just to surf your favorite geek time-waste.

I'm using this quick hack to fix slashdot (doesn't fix tabs loaded in the background though:

http://www.hardgrok.org/blog/item/slashfix-firefox -extension.html

Thanks so much, glad you like it! You can post a comment on my site here if you want to post a comment on the extension where a lot of people will read it. Endorsements are heartily appreciated. :)

250 downloads of the XPI from my site already, and probably quite a few more from ExtensionsMirror.nl. Guess a lot of people were annoyed by this. Once I thought about it, I realized how easy it should be to fix, and I was genuinely surprised that nobody had done this previously.

An update: at my site. The XMDirect "protocol" is just a trivial header of 3 XM 5AA5 serial opcodes. Like I predicted, it was a trivial thing to dump with a serial monitor and figure this out (I just didn't realize quite how trivial it would be).

I think iTunes comes closest to the ideal - and you can unprotect the music files, either via rip-and-burn or (blatant plug) read my guide using QTFairUse to get sweet sounding, unprotected AAC files from those nasty DRMed iTunes files, and it's not really that hard to convert them to MP3s, and the quality is good enough for me.

Third, as I mentioned in my QTFairUse guide above, you might find that unprotected AAC audio which you can easily get from QTFairUse is a nice way to listen to your iTunes Music Store songs using WinAmp or non-Apple AAC-capable hardware players, without any quality loss whatsoever. The myths that QTFairUse doesn't work or do anything just aren't true - it is a pain to use in its current form, but it works, and it is useful for some of us. And it's the only way I know of besides stream recording or burn-and-rip to go from M4P to MP3 on a Windows box.

I haven't actually tried QTFairUse with the new QuickTime, so it's not impossible that QTFairUse won't successfully patch QuickTime anymore.

I agree with you that methanol (and ethanol as well) are fabulous fuels that we should be focusing more energy on producing in a renewable and economically feasiable manner, because that's a much more realistic goal than a transition to hydrogen fuel. The thing is, you can use methanol as fuel either via direct combustion or using a methanol fuel cell - in either case, you get more efficient results when you rid yourself of the intermediate step - conversion to pure hydrogen. The obsession with hydrogen is just part of the collective self-delusion principle - if we don't see the pollution getting made (it happens at the power plant rather than in the car), then it doesn't matter. And yes, I realize that making power centrally in a large facility is more efficient, but it doesn't come close to making up for the full lifecycle energy costs of hydrogen. And this, children, is why we aren't driving hydrogen cars and won't be unless somebody comes up with a far better mechanism for making hydrogen from one of its plentiful, naturally occurring forms (like water or hydrocarbons).

And that is why the auto and energy industry is pumping money into hydrogen research - it distracts us from real solutions and will keep their very profitable status quo intact.